Washington State Soldier Had Expressed Strong Opinions About U.S., Bigotry and Islam

Associated Press ^ | Feb 13, 2004 | Elizabeth M. Gillespie

[BenLurkin]

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - A National Guardsman suspected of trying to share military information with al-Qaida is a Muslim convert who complained bitterly in a letter to a newspaper about "bigotry, hatred and mindless rage" in the United States. Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, 26, was arrested Thursday and was being held at Fort Lewis. The tank crew member from the Guard's 81st Armor Brigade was taken into custody just days before he was to leave for duty in Iraq.

Long before his arrest, he had made some of his beliefs known in strongly worded letters to the editor.

"In my three years as an observant Muslim, I've encountered nothing but kindness, patience, courtesy and understanding from them," he wrote in a November 2002 letter to the Herald of Everett. "On the other hand, I have experienced bigotry, hatred and mindless rage from so-called 'educated thinkers' here in the U.S."

Anderson also suggested that his allegiance to the United States was conditional.

In a 1998 letter published by The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, he warned: "Today I am a young soldier, sworn to protect and defend this country. But if tomorrow I find that this nation is no longer the one based upon the freedom I was taught to love, I'll have little choice but to go where I can live in freedom."

And in a 2001 letter to the Spokane newspaper, Anderson said he feared war in Afghanistan, because "elements in our own society who would rob us of our individual liberties and freedoms can use the auspices of national security to steal them."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, defense officials said Anderson signed on to extremist Internet chat rooms and tried to get in touch with al-Qaida operatives. It is unclear how the U.S. government got wind of his alleged offer to supply military information to the terrorists. It does not appear he transmitted any information to al-Qaida, authorities said.

Anderson grew up in this city 30 miles north of Seattle, graduating from Cascade High School in 1995. He then attended Washington State University, where he earned a degree in history in 2002. He began studying Islam in 1999, according to his most recent letter to the Hearld in 2002.

The arrest is "shocking, but it's not too shocking, knowing how Ryan is," said Nathan Knopp, a high school friend.

"He was always a paramilitary type of guy, really into military weaponry," Knopp told The Herald on Thursday. "Ryan's kind of a weird type of guy who made up a lot of stories that seemed really far-fetched."

Knopp, who is in the Navy, declined to talk about Anderson to The Associated Press Friday, saying the Navy asked him not to discuss the case.

But he showed an AP reporter and photographer a copy of his 1995 yearbook, where he said Anderson had drawn an elaborate sketch of a machine gun, and a Confederate flag, and wrote, "Let's overthrow the government!" He signed it R. "Za Savierki" Anderson.

No one answered a knock at Anderson's apartment door in Lynnwood, a Seattle suburb, on Friday. A newspaper with its front-page report on his arrest lay unopened on the doorstep.

Neighbor Jack Roberts said he talked to Anderson's wife, Erin, after federal agents left the couple's apartment on Thursday.

"She was pretty damned shocked, as I was," Roberts told the Herald of Everett.

TV satellite trucks lined the street outside his parents' home Friday, but no one made an appearance. His father, Bruce Anderson, issued a statement saying the family was stunned by the arrest but is confident the code of military justice will afford his son a fair trial.

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Anderson is the second Muslim soldier with Fort Lewis connections to be accused of wrongdoing related to the war on terror. Capt. James Yee, 35, a former Fort Lewis chaplain, is accused of mishandling classified information from the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yee ministered to Muslim prisoners there.

[BenLurkin]

Its just my opinion but . . . I think this guy is a nutcase.

[ambrose]

Sounds like your average DUer.

[Cicero]

I think I agree. It sounds as if he doesn't know whether to be a Muslim or a Communist. If they decide not to bring charges they should discharge him from the army. He's not to be trusted with government subsidized weapons.

[SandRat]

I hope this case gets as much media coverage as the Lt Calley case got.

I would enjoy America getting to see the REAL-JAG conduct a General Courts Martial where based on Art 80 and 104 of the UCMJ as amended the defendant so charged in time of war could get the ultimate sentence at Leavenworth.

[sgtbono2002]

A dangerous nutcase

[LoudRepublicangirl]

He sounds like that nut-job Jihad Johnny. The guy was a lost soul looking for a cause and ended up with the wrong one.

[joesnuffy]

Interesting info on this John Walker/al Qaeda wannabe

[skeeter]

But he showed an AP reporter and photographer a copy of his 1995 yearbook, where he said Anderson had drawn an elaborate sketch of a machine gun, and a Confederate flag, and wrote, "Let's overthrow the government!" He signed it R. "Za Savierki" Anderson.

The media will soon complete the circle... muslim terrorist=American gun nut=southern bitgot= republican voter.

[rmlew]

No. He would be a poster at Liberty Forum or Liberty post.
He is a paranoid ex-militia type.

[Libertina]

BTTT Pings please, Cyber. BTW Tonight I heard a local newscast interviewing a guy who knew this traitor in college. They guy soft pedaled his friend's interest in Islam (as history) and spend lots of time insisting he knew too much about guns...and had an interest in ....NAZIS!!!!

IOW - even a plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face Religion of Peace crime will now be blamed on Nazis and guns... Mind-boggling!

[rogue yam]

Well, fine. But why couldn't he have just gone over to "Palestine" and thrown himself under a bulldozer like a decent, self-respecting lefty nut-case?

[livius]

He's going to end up a hero to the press. They're already laying the groundwork.

[dix]

This loser kind of sounds like a latter day Lee Harvey Oswald.

[cherry]

In my opinion, he sounds just like the guy who blew up the Federal building.....

he was a "good" guy too, and a good soldier....

something does happen when these guys get too far over the edge with their radical rightist beliefs...they morph into radical left wingers....

BTW. where this guy went to school...probably already stated , but Washington State is a mere 8 miles from the University of Idaho....hmmmmm....now, there couldn't be any connection with that Muslim student teacher who is jail right now, could there....

[livius]

If the press really completed the circle, they'd delve into the connections of Timothy McVeigh and Nichols to Islam. But I doubt that they're going to go there.

This is going to be spun to make the US look bad.

In the OKC case, any Muslim involvement, either of the participants or of accomplices, was scrupulously erased, and the neo-Nazi militia stuff was brought to the fore.

In this case, the neo-Nazi stuff (apparently Anderson was involved in or at least looking for something like this) will go away, and the poor, picked-upon Muslim stuff will come to the fore.

Anderson did it because he was a VICTIM! How can you be so insenstive as to forget?

[raloxk]

sounds like a Democrat

[raloxk]

Someone should go paste his comments over on DU and see if they agree with him. Only then tell the DUers that he is a terrorist

[CyberCowboy777]

Washington State Ping List

This is all known Washington State Freepers and interested parties as of 1/30/04 - 362 FReepers
Less those who opted out
If you want on or off this ping list Freepmail me.

[MarMema]

We have a lot of them out here. Thanks for posting this, I was hoping to find something about this on FR.

[SauronOfMordor]

something does happen when these guys get too far over the edge with their radical rightist beliefs...they morph into radical left wingers....

Never forget that "Nazi" was a contraction of the german for "National Socialist German Worker's Party".

The defining characteristic of a Communist, a Nazi, and a Muslim is the conviction that the Group (Party/State/Religion) is everything, and the individual nothing. When you have someone with that conviction, the particular label is secondary.

[Brian Allen]

<< Its just my opinion but . . . I think this guy is a nutcase. >>

One of an insane death-cultist pedophile-false-fuerher-following billion just like him!

Blessings -- Brian

BumPing

[BenLurkin]

Could be interesting.

[Just Lori]

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.



What is the most important thing here? - Whether the guy has a lawyer, or whether he was seriously trying to do damage to the U.S., and to the men and women of our military who are REAL Americans? He'll get a lawyer, don't worry.